On Thursday 09 August 2001 18:14, you wrote:
> The 10th anniversary of Linus' announcement to the world of the
> availability of Linux source code comes up on Aug 25th. Anyone for
> putting something together along the lines of an impromptu
> no-real-planning party/cookout sort of thing?
Well, I wrote something about Linux, and perhaps this is a good place to
share it. So here it is:
I think that Linux could be defined in a number of ways: an Operating System.
A development environment, a way of life. A philosophy. It can be used for so
many things: it runs your watch, or your TiVo. It even does Windows. Who are
the people that use it? Housewives, schoolkids, university professors, but
techies, mostly.
I think about what Linux is by looking through my Linux Magazine. Maybe
that's what's made me think of this. The regular departments are: "Newbies,"
"In the Trenches," "Guru Guidance," "Compile Time," "Perl of Wisdom," and
"Tech Support." These are really only a few of the many many different
aspects of Linux. Except for "Perl of Wisdom," each of the departments could
be about almost anything.
Newbies is all about the basics, and the not-so basics of how to do stuff in
Linux that will make you a master. While the tone is very friendly, the
material is like a text-book: you really have to study it and practice it to
get the most good out of it. Unfortunately, there is no test at the end to
see if you mastered the material. I might even pay for that service on their
website.
"In the Trenches" could be about almost anything, but it seems to revolve
around what it's like to use Linux in the real world. And they talk to real
people who are making it happen.
What holds it all together? The GPL. In several of the interviews with
people, the Question of the GPL always comes up. The GPL is what makes Linux
Linux. Without it, it would be just another free Unix clone, similar to *BSD.
The GPL gives Linux energy. It truly does give back in a way that *BSD
doesn't. You can't take energy out of it. If you do, then you are required to
put energy back in through improvements in the code, or other ways that are
helpful to the community. The idea of freedom with the software is what keeps
me going. I love the ideals of Linux. Linux is the ideal of freedom in the
real world. The GPL is on the level of the US Constitution in that it speaks
to very high ideals, and goes out of its way to achieve them. It also
addresses real world needs, and does it with the loftiest of intentions, and
succeeds. I think I really saw the almost single minded-ness about how
important the GPL is in an interview with Dennis Ritchie, inventor of Unix
and C. Linux Magazine was talking to one of the greatest minds in the
computing universe, and the only things they could ask him about were about
the GPL? I'm not saying they did a bad job, but that's what got me thinking.
If they are asking what doesn't seem (to me) to be a very important question
of someone who is very important...well, then the GPL must be very important.
They tend to ask about the GPL to others, but I didn't notice its importance
as a glue until the interview with Ritchie. I don't believe that he sees it,
either. He's from another time, really, one that didn't have to have the kind
of protection that the GPL offers.
In our world, the GPL is our Constitution, our primary document for what
makes us who we are as a community. It talks to us in a language that we can
understand, and tells us that we equals, that we all have the same rights. It
respects us in a way that few other documents do. Without the GPL, Linux
would be just another flavor of Unix, and not very important. But with it, we
soar to ever greater heights, ever more quickly, and with continuing
enthusiasm.
Version 2 of the GPL is just over 10 years old now; Linus first released the
kernel using the GPL just short of 10 years ago, and it seems that no one had
a party! This didn't start out as a celebration of Linux and the GPL, but it
sure has ended up that way. Cheers to Linux and the GPL!
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